claudiav

My senior boy Sarge behaves differently when I walk him with Leyla (the alpha dog), than when I walk him alone. I bet there is nothing wrong with Rudy. He probably just behaves differently when he's out at a fun run with other greys, than on walks alone with you, vs walks with your older dog, vs walks with your younger dog, vs any other combination... I wouldn't worry too much about it...

Hey Christine, yes, cover it up with underwear, cut up shorts, anything to keep her from getting at it... I would also put some antibiotic ointment/cream on it to help heal... come of shame or muzzle with stool guard are a bit much right now, while she's with you... try that and if you leave the house, then you can try the cone of shame or muzzle... Looking forward to meeting this little bundle of joy soon... Claudia

my vet would say allergies... my girl does this same thing at different times thru the day, and my boy paws at his eyes constantly... vet said both are allergy driven

oh dear.... that dos look infected, or something else more serious than just a corn... I would hull and see if there is something under the corn, or squeeze and see if something comes out.... or of nothing else works, biopsy...

hull them yourself. here's the video someone posted not long ago. I have been doing it this way for years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdVWFUAT_4w My Remy had surgery. It was a waste of money. It returned within 6 months. I kept paying $75/pop for vet to hull it every few weeks, until I learned how to hull myself. drugs won't do anything on that type of pain. Just got to remove the corn for him to feel better. Good luck!

always put Ken first, so he knows he isn't being replaced, or Grace favored. Feed him first, put his leash on first, pet him first when you get home, give him treats first, etc... give Grace everything second, so she doesn't think she is top dog and understands he is the senior and gives him his respect. That will help in their bonding. He will realize she's his mate and it's ok to share. Give them time. And congrats on the second addition.

yes, that last pic made me cry.... you can tell she was so thin and ill... I'm so glad you were able to find her a great home with friends that still kept you updated on her life... I found a home for my year old puppy with a wonderful man and his dog, on a 176 acre farm, and the dog was only a year older then her... it was literally heaven on earth for her... she got all the attention I couldn't provide her while working 10 hrs and commuting 5 hrs a day, she got to romp around with her age appropriate buddy on so much open farm land, and I got visiting rights... I went o see her every year for her birthday, and watch her grow into a lovely old girl... she still has such a good life... and it warms my heart that she had a better life than I could provide her... Kelli was blessed to have such a wonderful home and people who loved and took greyt care of her, and kept you updated on her... She is pain free now... run free sweet girl...

Vet gave us appetite stimulant, not suppressant. my mistake. Anyway, we had a tough weekend. Sarge was on a hunger strike while he was dealing with the nasty, brown water, explosive diarrhea. It just kept pouring out of him, even 4 days after the last meal he had, the chicken rotisserie, which caused the whole thing. Thank goodness I spoke with my vet Saturday morning and she advised against Dyan and Ensure. She said with his inflamed intestines, those would have exacerbated the problem. She suggested Natural Balance venison & sweet potato canned food pureed with vegetable broth, and I syringe-fed him that Saturday nite and Sunday afternoon. Luckily, by Sunday nite, he was feeling better and was hungry for some real food. Gave him a can of TOTW Salmon and he inhaled it. He wanted more food, so I gave him boiled pasta and beef. He loved it! YAY!!! I was literally dancing on the ceiling. This morning, he ate some more boiled pasta and beef. WOOHOO!!! I went out to the dog run and found his most recent poops have slightly improved, to pudding like consistency. I'll be most interested to see how it looks tonite, 24 hrs after the boiled pasta and beef were introduced, just to make sure he isn't allergic to beef, as I found out the hard way he is allergic to chicken. Vet loved this morning's report, and said to continue the pasta & beef diet if he likes it, as long as it's good to his tummy. He's still getting 1/4 teaspoon of Tylan powder twice a day, in capsules, and we're going to recheck the stool for the campylobacter infection. He has two more weeks on Tylan, and I've learned how to give him B-12 shots, so I hope he's on the mend. He even ate 3 peanut butter biscuits this morning. Love my Sarge. He also had a fun filled weekend! He went to CT for the picnic and puppy farm, and we took the ferry back to Long Island. He loved smelling the salt water and standing in the sun while there was a crisp breeze blowing. Sunday we went to a family festival and pet expo @ Tanner Park in Long Island, and he got to meet so many people and all breeds and sizes doggies. he really is a joy to walk, he LOVES everyone, and wants to stop and sniff every dog, but while waking with Leyla, it's not possible to let him enjoy other dogs, cuase she's very anti social, she hates puppy energy, and most dogs have that hyperactive tendency and she growls and tries to take a bite out of them. but a friend of mine was walking her wile I was walking Sarge, and we were able to stop and say hi to everyone and I swear, I've never seen him happier! So glad he got to experience that! Everyone loved him too..... but of course!!! Who wouldn't love a tall, gangly, well behaved, social boy like him? http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/shakasmom/media/Sargelaughing_zpsf589d5d9.jpg.html'> This is Sarge and his anti social sissy

I posted this while waiting for vet to call me. She left appetite suppressant and anti nausea pills for me, which I'm picking up in an hour. I hope they help, I am so worried about him.... he can't afford to go on a hunger strike She also recommended steaming beef/turkey and potatoes for him, not giving him rotisserie chicken anymore.... didn't know how fat rotisserie chicken is.... and he my be allergic to it as the runs have returned.... oy!!!

three medium capsules, twice a day... I pill him... put them all the way down his throat and shut his muzzle till he swallows... he just doesn't seem to want to eat, or do anything... he seems off... even though I've only had him for 8 weeks...

Sarge, my new senior, had diarrhea for 6 weeks when we found the culprit: an infection in the intestinal tract. The bacteria is resistant to a lot of antibiotics, but not Tylan powder. I have been giving him Tylan powder in capsules for two weeks now. He used to be my chow hound. Ever since he started the Tylan powder, he has turned up his nose at every food I have given him. He will try something new once, reluctantly, but will not eat it a second time. We went thru TOTW salmon kibble and canned food, V-Dog kibble, Royal Canine venison & potato prescription kibble and canned food. Earlier this week he just stopped eating dog food of any kind. So I started with chicken and rice. He ate some of the rice, but mostly picked out the chicken. Next meal, he reluctantly ate some chicken. Now he won't even touch it. He loved his peanut butter cookies, and pumpkin cookies, but he won't touch them now. he wouldn't eat anything this morning. He is severely underweight and need to gain, but we also need to finish the Tylan powder as this infection has been going on for a long time, and we need to get rid of it. I don't know what to feed him anymore. I won't try anymore dog food. Has anyone else had this experience with Tylan powder? Does it upset their tummy, or take away their appetite? What do you do about it? he has two more weeks on it.... I haven't properly introduced him to GT yet. I was waiting until he felt better, put on some weight, to take some good pics.... he is VERY tall and gangly.... no muscle tone whatsoever... His 11th birthday was Wednesday (9/11). I this boy!!!

I just went thru this with my new senior. I adopted him 6 weeks ago. He had healthy poops for 4 days, then out of nowhere, he started explosive, uncontrolled diarrhea. He became severely dehydrated and had to be hospitalized for 2 days, to get rehydrated, tested and treated. he was sent home with Flagyll and I/D prescription food. With treatment, he was able to control when he pooped, but it never actually improved in consistency. The smell is deadly. full blood panel and fecal culture showed that he did not have worms, but as a result of the severe dehydration, he was unable to absorb nutrients from his food. his racing weight was 78 lbs, back in 2006. He was down to 70 over the 7 ys he was retired in his prior home. Dropped to 63 at the time he was hospitalized, just 10 days after I adopted him. Appetite is great but severely skinny and loss of muscle mass. Brought back to my grey expert vet when there was no improvement, other than slight weight gain. She didn't know what else it could be and suggested a biopsy. I absolutely refused to put him thru that. Luckily, I am part of a large greyhound walking group and one of the women had a similar issue with her grey, years back, when she adopted her. She recommended I get a second opinion from her vet who is an expert in stomach/intestine problems. I went Saturday for that second opinion, and although it cost me $850 in labwork, I am so greytful I did! She tested for all kinds of things that my grey savvy vet didn't think of. And just today we got the results we were looking for, got an actual diagnosis and treatment has already begun. She took blood, urine, and fecal, and tested for everything else they don't normally check for. GI panel test for maldigestion vs. malabsorption. Fecal panel test for infections (not parasite and giardia which had been tested and came back negative already). Cortisol test which screens for Addison's disease. These were all things my grey savvy vet never thought to check for. Thank dog he doesn't have Addison's, but he does have an infection in the intestinal tract caused by CAMPYLOBACTER. This specific bacteria can be very damaging to the intestinal tract, causing severe inflammation, and stops the body from absorbing nutrients and most importantly, B-12. He had a B-12 shot Saturday, as vet suspected this was going on, and he started feeling better that nite. He will have to get a B-12 shot once a week for a month, and once a month for the rest of his life. This specific bacteria is also resistant to most antibiotics, like Flagyll. He was on low dose Prednisone for inflammation, but it didn't do anything. New vet put him on Tylan powder and within 2 days, I saw slight improvement in his stool. Tylan is one antibiotic that is used to treat this bacterial infection. He will stay on it for a month. His weight loss and muscle mass loss is due to the malabsorption due to this infection, but she thinks he was never very healthy to begin with. She thinks he has an underlying low grade IBD, and the immune function in his gut has been severely compromised, which means he will never be able to eat a raw diet. She recommends a veggie diet and veg/potato-based treats. No more lamb lungs. No more jerky treats. No more marrow bones. Instead of Milkbones, Old Mother Hubbard veggie biscuit treats. He doesn’t seem to love his salmon kibble b/c he won’t eat it for bkfst, only for dinner. She agrees we need to find something that he will eat twice a day and that will work for his stomach. She will send me home with a high quality venison based kibble for sensitive stomachs. He needs to like it and eat it heartily, he needs to gain weight. I urge you to ask your vet to run these tests BEFORE doing a biopsy. I thought I was going to the best vet out there, and I will still see her for everything else. But there are other things that specialists are necessary for, and I am so glad I found the second vet who is a specialist in these issues and ran a boatload of tests (although extremely expensive) that found the culprit ad now that we know what we are dealing with, we know how to treat it. Please let us know what you decide and find out. Claudia

I am so so sorry!!! I can't stop crying.... I can't believe you only had 1 month with her.... I loved reading your updates, especially once the cart was brought out of retirement....

my new senior didn't want to drink from my portable water bottle like the one below (I think he was scared of it)... but after seeing his sissy drinking from it for a few weeks, he got comfortable with it and drinks fine on our walks now....

EXCELLENT!!!! this is exactly how I do it. yay!!! see how simple it is? and it saved me $75/corn @ the vet.....

stern NO! STOP! I've found my pups know these commands if not others...

BEST FRIENDS Pet Insurance. Love them. they don't make you jump thru hoops. and it benefits Best Friends Animal Sanctuary out in Utah (animal heaven on earth)

perfect response to those who don't know the difference between checking in to see how your houndie is doing..... and putting on their judge robes and judging you for what they see through their clouded vision.... unacceptable and these people need to be put in their place.... unfortunately, there are no adequate Long Island adoption groups, so I have to go 2-3 hrs away, to NJ to get my greys... it's a shame....

I would want to meet the person brave enough to write me a threatening email about MY dogs' weight, and imply he would be taken from me..... I really do.... they would regret the day they ever made that decision.... Mars is YOUR dog. You love him and care for him and that's what matters. Not somebody else's weight ideals. Pass the email on to the founder and advise her to teach the coordinator how to mind her own business.... .... who the hell does she think she is?

YAY!!!! so excited for you Christine!! guess we need to come over and meet little Pari

what a gorgeous girlie and how lucky she is to have you! I'm jealous.... I wanna be carted around in style like her...

I am so sorry for your double loss. I lost Remy exactly one month before Corbyn (on 7/18/13). He too, was a Texas blood donor from GAA. He too, was only 10 yrs old when Osteo took him. Remy, show your blood donor brother around the other side of the Bridge, baby. Run free Corbyn and Alesteir!

Remy had corns, on both front paws. I had vet hull them. I had vet surgically remove them. They came back within 6 months. After they came back, I went back to just hulling. I was paying $75/per corn for my vet to hull them, until I learned how to hull them myself last year @ Dewey. The wonderful ladies @ GEM showed me how and I hulled the once a month until his death. I have been hulling another pup' corns in my walking group. It is so simple, I can't stand it. The amount of work, time, money we spend on creams/pills/duct tape/dremel/etc and nothing helps other than hulling every 4 weeks. It is a hard callous that, to us would be the equivalent of walking with a stone in our shoe. Unless it is removed, nothing will cure it, or make it feel better. If you weren't so far away I would come over and show you how it's done... It takes less than 5 minutes... there's just no way to explain it without seeing it yourself...

it sure is My new senior boy is working his magic on me every day, healing my broken heart after losing Remy to Osteo... LOVE him to bits...

Another surgery is urgent! I waited too long for a tail to heal and my very grey-savvy vet said it could have infected the blood and spread up the tail and into her body.... this need to be corrected by a vet that knows what they're doing. Yours does not. Please keep us updated.